Gavan Reilly: €40m help won’t solve RTÉ’s biggest problem

You mightn’t have noticed, but there’s a bit of a row brewing within government – one which is going to drive a wedge within the coalition in the run-up to the election, whenever that is (more on that elsewhere), and which they really didn’t need to have. Inevitably, it’s about RTÉ.

Leo Varadkar and Paschal Donohoe are wedded to the idea of public broadcasting being funded by a separately charged, separately funded, and separately administered fee. Their argument is that the general principle of public broadcasting is better protected if the funding is separate in the minds of the public – paying for RTÉ through general taxation, they think, compromises the independence of the broadcaster because it means the fate of RTÉ could be decided on a whim by a hostile government or a recession.

In principle, that’s a sound view – and one that, were you worried about a forthcoming government with a hostile view of robust media, you’d probably consider too.

In the current circumstances, though, it’s a bit like being the fabled Japanese soldier hiding out from the Allies in a jungle long past 1945: fighting a battle that’s already been lost. The media minister Catherine Martin – apparently now joined by the Tánaiste Micheál Martin – thinks the premise of an ‘opt in’ model like the current TV licence, even if legally mandatory, is a busted flush. For them, direct exchequer funding is the only future.

The reason this is an important row, and one that’s going to need resolution before the election, is because the Government’s bailout for RTÉ last week simply isn’t going to be enough. That’s not me putting the opportunistic boot in because I work for a private sector rival: it’s simple sums.

For each of the last two years, the licence fee has yielded about €196 million for RTÉ. But since the Tubridy pay controversy broke out in late June, renewal rates have cratered, down by 30 per cent between July and September, and almost 40 per cent in the first half of October. Those who are minded to boycott the licence, appear to draw strength in numbers.

For RTÉ that translates into serious trouble. A one-third boycott for the second half of this year would cost €30 million in revenue. The gap might easily be double that next year. The Government is providing €40 million in emergency aid, and RTÉ will try to trim €10 million in spending, but a funding gap still looms. And bear in mind: 2024 contains (some) nationwide elections in Ireland, flagship votes in the UK and US., possibly another in Stormont, a referendum or two, and a major international soccer tournament. It’s one of those years where the bread and butter of RTÉ’s job is expensive.

What if €40 million isn’t enough, and RTÉ’s cash pile runs dry? Do the Government simply hand over more cash? Or do they do what they were advised to do by their own Future of Media Commission two years ago, and fund RTÉ through direct tax anyway? And what would be the point of the commission if you’re determined to ignore its findings?